WASHINGTON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Lenovo Inc, a major laptop maker, has agreed to pay $3.5 million and make changes in how it sells laptops in order to settle allegations it sold devices with pre-loaded software that compromised users security protections.

The agreement with Connecticut, the Federal Trade Commission and 31 other states was announced on Tuesday.

The software, called VisualDiscovery, was installed on hundreds of thousands of laptops beginning in August 2014 in order to deliver pop-up advertisements. The software also blocked browsers from warning users when they tried to access malicious websites.

The software was also able to access consumers sensitive information, like Social Security numbers, the FTC said. That information was not sent to Superfish, which sold VisualDiscovery, the FTC said.

- U. S. employers are bracing for higher health care expenses in 2018 as spending on new drugs to treat diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and hepatitis C is expected to rise more than 7 percent, according to consultancy firm Mercer.
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Ryanair is to cancel 40 to 50 flights every day for the next six weeks, in a bid to improve punctuality of flights. The budget Irish-based airline announced the plan on Friday, saying that it was "unacceptable" that its punctuality had fallen below 80% in the first half of this month.
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The British Public Relations firm Bell Pottinger was one of the world's largest public relations companies, but after running a racially-charged campaign in South Africa, it was kicked out of the industry body in the UK and its investors fled.
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